{"id":8908,"date":"2019-10-23T18:08:36","date_gmt":"2019-10-23T12:38:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.heartfulness.org\/in\/?p=8908"},"modified":"2019-11-11T13:48:50","modified_gmt":"2019-11-11T08:18:50","slug":"take-it-to-the-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/writenode.heartfulness.org\/ke\/take-it-to-the-heart\/","title":{"rendered":"Take it to the Heart"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\u201cThe heart is intuitive. It does not share the mind\u2019s many limitations.\u201d
\n-Daaji, The Heartfulness Way<\/i>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I write this during a period of surprising struggle with myself over what seem to be multiple unnecessary concerns, blown out of proportion in my own mind.
\n 
\nA few months ago, I sat down for my morning meditation<\/a> with a positive outlook and no particular worries. Out of nowhere, a relationship that has been stressful over the years came to mind and I began anticipating a conflict based on past interactions. My attempts to let go of the anxiety were getting me nowhere. Instead, I felt like I was being sucked into a whirlpool of worry. I could not seem to ignore this \u201cuninvited guest.\u201d
\n 
\nAs the minutes ticked by and I saw my meditation being swallowed up in this stressful train of thought, I got rather annoyed with myself. What to do? Another thought came: \u201cThis guest is perfectly happy hanging around and has no intention of leaving my side. After all, I\u2019m feeding it with my emotions, engaging it with my \u2018what if<\/a>\u2019 scenarios, and entertaining it with a full-blown psychological drama. Why would it go anywhere?\u201d I became very determined to get to my heart and save my meditation, one way or another.
\n 
\nIt then occurred to me that I could simply take the guest with me and give it over to the heart. In essence, I said to the guest, \u201cI have to go now, but you can come with me. I will hand you over to the heart\u2019s care, and it will know exactly what to do with you.\u201d
\n 
\nThe shift happened in that moment. It was so immediate that it shocked me. It was as if the entire complex mental struggle simply vaporised, and I slipped into a very nice meditation. I was so struck by this occurrence that I began to take my concerns to the heart in this manner on a more regular basis. In the midst of daily life, or in meditation, I would simply ask the heart for help, without any preconceived idea of what form the help would take.
\n 
\nWhat I discovered was that the heart never fails to respond in some way, and its responses are surprisingly simple and clear. Sometimes they just point my attention in another direction, toward something I hadn\u2019t even thought was relevant or connected. At other times the heart provides insight or a different perspective on a matter. Sometimes it simply shifts my inner condition, removing the concern entirely. Most interestingly, its responses are never quite what I expect and they are different each time, always original.
\n 
\nSuggested read<\/i> : Finding peace with heartfulness meditation<\/a>
\n 
\nSometimes I fail to follow through on the heart\u2019s response. Recently during an evening Cleaning session, I found myself in a mentally obsessive state much like the one that started me down this road of referring to the heart. Once again, I offered up my concern, and the heart told me quite plainly, \u201cThis is a non-issue.\u201d In other words, the turn of events I was anticipating was not going to come about at all. While I still couldn\u2019t seem to let go of the anxiety, I did file away the heart\u2019s response. And as it turned out, the very next day it was indeed a non-issue.
\n 
\nI remember being part of a small group of meditators sitting with our Guide some years ago. Someone asked him if he had the same negative thoughts we do. He answered, \u201cYes, but they pass so quickly I hardly notice them.\u201d This tells me that none of us is above having thoughts we wish we didn\u2019t. Ram Chandra once said, \u201cThoughts come up in order to go away.\u201d I suspect it\u2019s the ego that tells me I should be beyond this sort of struggle, beyond all sorts of attitudes that get in my way. I hope someday I will be, but for now it only makes the struggle worse when I think badly of myself because of it.
\n 
\nHere is a \u201ctip for progress\u201d that seems particularly relevant to dealing with difficulties:
\n\u201cIn spirituality<\/a> we can be like lions\u2026 brave against odds and obstacles and confident of attaining the goal. So, negative feelings like fear, doubt, uncertainty and lack of confidence in one\u2019s own self can be consciously avoided.\u201d
\n 
\nWhen I\u2019m assailed by thoughts that fall into the above category, I will continue to go to the heart, taking these thoughts with me if I have to and giving them over with faith in the heart\u2019s response.
\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe heart is intuitive. It does not share the mind\u2019s many limitations.\u201d -Daaji, The Heartfulness Way I write this during a period of surprising struggle with myself over what seem to be multiple unnecessary concerns, blown out of proportion in my own mind.   A few months ago, I sat down for my morning meditation with a positive outlook and…… Read More<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":9603,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/writenode.heartfulness.org\/ke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8908"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/writenode.heartfulness.org\/ke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/writenode.heartfulness.org\/ke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writenode.heartfulness.org\/ke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writenode.heartfulness.org\/ke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8908"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/writenode.heartfulness.org\/ke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8908\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9229,"href":"https:\/\/writenode.heartfulness.org\/ke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8908\/revisions\/9229"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writenode.heartfulness.org\/ke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/writenode.heartfulness.org\/ke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writenode.heartfulness.org\/ke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writenode.heartfulness.org\/ke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}